Twelve years ago today in the early hours of the morning, Hurricane Katrina made landfall, hitting the Gulf Coast as a Category 3 hurricane, bringing sustained winds of 100–140miles per hour and stretching 400 miles wide.

New Orleans, LA, August 30, 2005 — People sit on a roof waiting to be rescued after Hurricane Katrina. Jocelyn Augustino/FEMA

Although the storm itself inflicted a great deal of damage, its aftermath was devastating when levee breaches brought substantial flooding.  In Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, hundreds of thousands were displaced and damages were estimated to be greater than $100 billion.

Hurricane Katrina started as a tropical depression forming over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005.  Soon, meteorologists were warning those in the Gulf Coast states that a major storm was making its way toward them. Evacuations across the region were underway by August 28 as the National Weather Service predicted that…